Speaking at the opening ceremony of Esenboğa Airport’s third runway, new tower and other complementary facilities, President Erdoğan said: “With 4-hour flight time, we as Türkiye are located at the center of 67 countries. We have made significant investments in the past 23 years to maximize the potential provided by this advantageous location and make the most of it. In line with our goal of leaving no destination out of our reach, we have made Türkiye one of the countries with the largest flight network in the world.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the opening ceremony of Esenboğa Airport’s third runway, new tower and other complementary facilities in Ankara.
Underscoring that they have made huge investments, projects and services in all the areas, from healthcare to foreign policy, education to justice, and defense to transportation and industry since they took office, President Erdoğan said: “As is the case in other areas, we make intensive efforts in the aviation sector as well to elevate our country to higher levels. I would especially like to stress that with 4-hour flight time, we as Türkiye are located at the center of 67 countries. We have made significant investments in the past 23 years to maximize the potential provided by this advantageous location and make the most of it. In line with our goal of leaving no destination out of our reach, we have made Türkiye one of the countries with the largest flight network in the world. We have increased the number of our active airports, which was 26 in 2002, to 58 today with Çukurova International Airport, which we inaugurated in 2024.”
“During the same period, we have increased the number of the countries, with which we have signed air transportation agreements, from 81 to 175, and made Türkiye the country with the greatest number of air transportation agreements in the world. We aim to sign air transportation agreements with all the 192 countries, which are the members of the International Civil Aviation Organization, in the upcoming period. In the meantime, we have increased the number of our international flights, which was 60 destinations in 50 countries, to 356 destinations in 133 countries. Another striking figure is that the number of the passengers on domestic and international flights, which was only 34.5 million in 2002, has exceeded 247 million in 2025,” President Erdoğan stated.
